Tales From Seal Beach: Teenage Girls
by Xazz
Summary: Someone makes fun of Aveline's new lolita fashion and Connor isn't very happy about it. -oneshot-


Currently I'm taking fic requests over on my blog (myantiquehabibi over on Tumblr). This is one of them. This_ is not normal. _This AU is normally told through Altair's POV, but the requester asked for this.

* * *

It had taken a while for his sister to actually work up the nerve to go to school in her new obsession. Aveline wasn't exactly a shy girl, she was in fact, very out going and cheerful and was plenty capable of taking care of herself and didn't let anyone tell her what to do. But when his little sister came home from middle school and went straight to her room, locking the door behind her, Connor was a little worried. Aveline's favorite past time when she came home from school was walking into his room, unannounced, and bothering him into paying attention to her. The fact that she didn't was worrying.

He didn't do anything about it though, not yet, since it could have been something else, she was a _teenage girl_ after all, they were made of weird and at sixteen Connor was at that age he didn't want to think about the fact that his little sister was just like other girls. Meaning it could be that time of the month and he _really_ didn't want to get slapped. He didn't put it past Aveline to not do so either.

When dinner came around their mother knocked on Aveline's door while Connor was washing up. He could hear them from where he was. "Aveline, sweetie, it's time for dinner."

"I'm not hungry," she called back through the door.

"C'mon Aveline," his mother tutted.

"I'm. Not. Hungry," she said.

"Is something wrong sweetie?"

"No."

There was a silence that lasted too long and Connor held onto the sink counter, looking out the door, the water running. "Okay," his mom said after a minute, "It'll be in the fridge if you want it."

"Okay," he barely heard that and then his mom was walking back down the short hall to the kitchen. He quickly turned off the water and dried his hands before going after her, casting a glance back at his sister's room with a frown.

When dinner was over Connor helped put all the dishes away before padding to his sister's door and knocking. "Aveline?" he called. No answer. "Aveline are you in there?"

"Go away," she said through the door.

"No."

"Go away."

"No," he said firmly. "Open the door."

"Go away Connor I don't want to talk to you."

Connor frowned deeply. Their dad had left them when Aveline was too little to remember and their mom did her best to take care of two kids by herself. Connor was the 'man of the house' and usually was the one making sure the bills got paid on time just because his mom sometimes forgot between actually working and raising them. He didn't blame her for it. She was doing the best she could and loved the two of them more then herself. But that was neither here nor there. Connor usually watched his sister after school, at least until she was old enough to watch herself and he always made sure she was safe and didn't get into trouble. They were also best friends, so when _something happened_ he got worried.

"Open the door right now Ava," he said.

"Or what?"

"Or so help me I'll break it," it was only a bit of an empty threat. They both knew Connor could break her lock off, it was a cheap doorknob after all. That or he'd just get a screw driver and take off the hinges. Either way the door _was getting opened_.

It didn't come to that though as he heard the lock click and he waited a second before opening the door. He blinked in surprise at what he saw. Aveline was sitting on her bed in her pajamas, her face pressed into her knees with a ring of destroyed clothes around her. Clothes she'd spent weeks worth of her allowance to buy and had been so excited and proud of that morning when they'd gotten on the bus for school.

"What happened?" he asked, still just standing in the door, bewilderment obvious on his face. She didn't answer him. He stepped into the room, closing the door softly behind him, and picked up the closest piece of clothing. It was a blouse that had been mutilated by a pair of scissors so it was almost unrecognizable, all the lace had been cut off and lay scattered on the floor. He frowned at it and picked up the next piece: a petticoat, the skirt, a sock, bloomers, the shirt, the other sock, and last the big bow she'd use to fix her braided hair with that morning. By the time he'd collected it all he was standing by her bed and she hadn't moved. He looked at the ruined clothes and sat on the bed, putting them to the side.

"Hey," he said gently and reached out to rest his hand on her arm. "What happened?"

He reply was just to untangle herself and throw herself into his lap, wrapping her arms around him, her face buried into his stomach. It took him all of two second to realize she was crying and he hugged her. She managed to crawl properly into his lap at the least and he knew better then to ask what had happened. He knew. Middle schoolers were awful, _awful_, human beings and when people suddenly changed or didn't fit the status quo they became outright monsters. So he didn't say anything, because nothing he could say would make it better.

—

The next morning Connor got up well before he normally did. Aveline's school started before his so he had to get up before she even did. Aveline slept like a rock so she didn't notice when he went into her room and to her closet.

Thankfully she'd only shredded one outfit. There was still some others. That and her birthday was coming up and he'd bought her something he knew she'd like. A new dress. She only wore lolita in the house or anywhere not at school. People always said she looked cute, and she did. She was adorable (which was of course of wearing lolita) but when your peers suddenly seemed to hate what you were wearing you tended to get the fear that everyone had just been lying to you to make you feel better. His sister was after all a normal teenage girl with normal teenage girl self esteem issues.

He looked up when her alarm went off and when she turned it off with a groan and sat up. "Con?" she asked, squinting at him, "What are you doing in my room?"

"I'm driving you to school," he informed her, turning to her and put his hands on his hips.

"Okay," clearly too tired to actually argue. "But why are you in my room?"

"I'm going to help you get dressed," and he flipped on the light.

She flushed a little, "I'm not five anymore Connor, I can get dressed by myself!" she cried.

"I dunno, you might need help with this one," and he pulled out what _was_ going to be her birthday present. She rubbed her eyes like she was seeing things. It was high collared and dark red with a subtle magenta pattern in the shape of royal lilies and a good amount of tasteful white lace. It was sort of a corset too and laced up the back, the ribbing also in white. "Also, happy early birthday!" he said, her birthday was in two weeks, but… yeah.

She immediately burst into tears.

He grinned and went over to her, hanging the dress up on a drawer of her dresser, and went over to her. He hugged her tightly. "Now c'mon, you still have to get dressed and have breakfast," he said enthusiastically. She nodded into his chest and pulled away, wiping her eyes.

"Go. I'll call you when I need you to tie it," she sniffed.

"Don't get your salty tears all over it," he teased her and tugged on one of her cornrows.

"Get," and she pushed him, he smiled but left her to get dressed. He waited just outside till she called hesitantly, "Connor?"

He stuck his head in first, "Wow," he said. "You actually look like a grown up, surprisingly," he added as an after thought.

"I don't do I?" she asked selfconciously.

"You look perfect, how about that, now turn around," and he gestured for her to turn. She did so and he took the end of the corset laces which were cream ribbons. He had a lot of practice tying perfect, and tight, double bows, from having a tom boy of a sister who wanted to run around and get into everything but look pretty while doing so. So he tugged the laces _just tight enough_ and then effectively tied a bow and then doubled it and fluffed out the ends and laid them flat against her back. "There," he patted her shoulder and she turned around, "Now no cutting this one up, it was expensive and you look way too pretty in it. Got it?" he asked sternly.

She nodded, "Thank you," she said.

"What else am I here for?" and he gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Now lets go get breakfast," and his stomach growled on cue. She nodded again and practically skipped out of the room to the kitchen where by now their mom was bustling around.

—

"You don't have to Connor," she said as Connor walked her to home room.

"Shush," he ordered. He was carrying her book bag and letting her lead him to her first class. He was very out of place here as it was sea of middle schoolers and he felt them looking at him, and Connor could be an intimidating guy. He was tall for starters and according to his friends had a scary face. As it was he didn't smile much except around his family and friends and some of the kids at _his_ school were kinda scared of him, though he'd never actually talked to them.

Finally they arrived at her class and he surrendered her book bag. She went to her chair. "Can I help you?" the teacher asked him, since it was obvious he didn't belong.

He tore his eyes away from his little sister and some 'pretty girls' who were eyeing her, and not in a good way. "I'm Aveline's brother," he said pleasantly. "I was just making sure that she got to class on time and nothing happened to her."

The teacher glanced at Aveline and the light went off very quickly, "Of course," she said. "It's good to see our students with such close families. Though I'm going to have to ask you to leave unless you have a visitor pass."

"No sweat, I was just leaving," Connor said and went to the door. Before he left he turned back to his sister, "Ava," she looked up quickly, "I'm ganna be picking you up, so you can tell me all about your day," he smiled, and it wasn't a nice smile at all. It wasn't threatening either though. It was just very quietly a 'I'm watching all of you' smile.

"Okay, bye Con," and she waved. Then he left.

He was pleased to report that Aveline had a great day that day, and some boys told her she looked pretty. He hadn't planned on that… shit.


End file.
